Soldiers come to the world

To the south of Anxian County are endless hills and mountains, where endless forests are distributed. Between the mountains, there are countless passages through the mountains. There are flat official roads, but there are also inaccessible trails.

This morning, in a forested hill, a cavalry team of about 30 people was galloping northward. This is a fairly flat abandoned official road. Pedestrians and merchants used to come and go frequently, but due to the outbreak of war, There are very few passers-by on this official road.

This team of cavalry is the scouts of the Han army. The leader of the scout is Deng Ai, the tooth general of the Han army. Deng Ai joined Pound's cavalry. General, this time he took the initiative to invite Ying to lead a scout team to An to investigate the situation.

They have stayed in Andong for three days and found some important clues. For example, the number of Cao Jun's patrols has been greatly reduced, and there are only 2000 troops left in An County. These are signs that Cao Jun has given up on Anton and retreated, but Deng Ai dare not be careless , because this may also be Xu Huang's trick to lure soldiers, he still led the scouts to Cao Cao's barracks to investigate.

Cao Jun is mainly deployed in An County, but some troops are also deployed outside the city. He has a garrison in Bo'an Fort on the west bank of Anshui, with about 300 people, guarding the throat from Anlu County to An County in the west. It is also the west gate of the Chaofei area, so no matter how Cao Jun uses his tactics, Cao Jun will never give up Bo'an Fort easily.

If Cao Jun withdraws from Bo'an Fort, it means that Cao Jun will give up Ancheng. Deng Ai learned the importance of Bo'an Fort before leaving, so he decided to visit Cao Jun in Bo'an Fort.

At noon, the scout cavalry team arrived at Anshui. Anshui is a big river that leads to Shaopi Lake in the north, but it originates from the Dabie Mountains in the south, and the areas it flows through are barren mountains and wild mountains. The shipping value of the upper reaches is not It was not until Ancheng in the downstream that a large number of civilian ships appeared, passing through Shaopi Lake to Shouchun.

The cavalry found a wooden bridge, crossed the bridge and ran westward for several miles. The cavalry team approached Bo'an Town. Both sides of the main street are full of hostels, taverns and brothels, doing business with merchants and pedestrians traveling from south to north.

About two places in the northwest of the town, the tall and sturdy Bo'an Fort stands majestically. Bo'an Fort is located on a rock, condescending, overlooking the Westward Official Road below. Everything is normal, Cao Jun's banner is erected on the top of the city, and there are faint sentries patrolling back and forth, but Deng Ai does not believe this appearance, he must enter the castle to have a look.

Half an hour later, Deng Ai disguised himself as a young fisherman, and together with another soldier, he walked quickly to Bo'an Fort, carrying two loads of fresh fish bought from the fisherman.

Affected by the war, most of the shops are closed. Only one hotel is barely open for business, but there are few guests. A yellow dog sleeps sleepily at the gate.

Deng Ai walked out of the town and came directly to the military fort. According to normal experience, when they were dozens of steps away from the castle, the soldiers above should sternly stop them, but no one stopped them today. Deng Ai and his men Looking at each other, the subordinate raised his head and shouted, "Is there anyone in the city?"

Deng Ai had a Nanyang accent, so it was inconvenient to speak, but his subordinates were from the local area, and they spoke a pure Anxiang accent. After shouting for a long time, a soldier stretched out his head and asked lazily, "What's the matter?"

"My brother Li Erlang, send him some fish!"

Nicknames such as Li Erlang and Zhang Sangou are very common in this area. Cao Jun soldiers who came to the door were stunned for a while, shook their heads and said, "Your brother is not in the castle, he has been transferred elsewhere."

Deng Ai was secretly delighted, and winked at his subordinates, who shouted again: "It's hot, these fish can't be kept for a long time, so I'll give it to you big brothers!"

The soldier laughed, "Thank you very much, you put the fish at the door, we will pick it up later."

It was obvious that they didn't want them to see the situation inside the castle. Deng Ai and his men put down the fish load and retreated. They walked into a dense forest, quickly climbed up a big tree, and carefully checked the movement inside the castle a hundred steps away.

After a while, the gate of the castle opened, and two soldiers came out and moved the fish load in. At the moment when they opened and closed the gate, Deng Ai could clearly see the inside of the small castle. a soldier.

It was the afternoon at this time, there were no soldiers training on the castle, and there were no soldiers standing guard or training in the castle, so where did the soldiers go?Are you all hiding in your room to rest?

Of course, there is such a possibility, but this possibility is too small. This is Xu Huang's subordinate, and he will never allow such lazy soldiers to exist. If this possibility is excluded, then the only possibility is that the soldiers have been transferred away. Only a few soldiers were left to guard the castle, Deng Ai thought secretly, they need to enter the castle to find out what happened.

At night, Bo'an Town became even more deserted. Even the last hostel was closed, and there was only a dilapidated lantern with a dim light, swaying in the night wind.

Deng Ai left two people to look after the horses. He led the remaining 27 soldiers through the town and rushed to the castle. City hook rope.

Several three-claw hook locks were thrown onto the west city. They observed for a long time in the afternoon. For a full hour, there was not a single patrolling soldier on the west city. At night, the west city was completely dark.

Several well-trained scouts grabbed the long ropes and climbed to the top of the city. After a while, Deng Ai was the first to climb to the top of the city. He carefully looked to both sides to confirm that there were no patrolling soldiers. He waved his hand, and several The soldiers jumped onto the top of the city. They had already made arrangements, and several soldiers rushed to the city one after another, disappearing in the darkness.

A quarter of an hour later, several soldiers ran back and reported excitedly: "General, the city is empty, and no soldiers were found."

Deng Ai was overjoyed and whistled downwards, and the other [-] people also climbed up the city wall along the long rope. Deng Ai led the soldiers and rushed along the top of the city. sentinel.

Everyone went down to the city again, and the castle with a size of more than ten acres was empty, except for a row of stone houses under the northern city, which was the soldiers' camp. The scouts of the Han army kicked open the door, rushed in, and grabbed two One of the soldiers, whom Deng Ai knew, was the soldier of Cao Jun who answered the question at the top of the city in the afternoon.

"Forgive me! Forgive me!" Two soldiers of Cao Jun knelt down and shouted,

Deng Ai quickly pulled out his knife, put it against the throat of a soldier, and said coldly: "Where are the rest of the soldiers? If you dare to tell a lie, you will die immediately."

"The villain dare not!"

The soldier wept and said: "The rest of the brothers have been transferred away, only two of us are left to guard the city. We must raise the banner, beat drums on time during the day, and patrol the city. .”

"Where did they all go?"

"I don't know," another soldier panicked, "Before leaving, the Marquis once complained that he was free in Bo'an Fort, but if he went to Shouchun City, he would become a soldier. We all guessed that they went to Shouchun City. "

In fact, it doesn't matter where Cao's army guarded the fort. The key is that Cao's army abandoned this crucial strategic fortress, making it safe for the west of Ancheng. much easier.

Once there is no Ancheng, the west gate of Chaofei will be opened. This is a chain of problems, so Bo'an Castle has become an empty city. There is only one explanation, Cao Jun has abandoned An County.

Deng Ai also has a certain strategic mind. He knows that the Han army can go northward without the restraint of the Jiangdong army. The south of Hefei is Chaohu Lake, and Cao Jun can't stop the Han army from approaching the city. It becomes meaningless. It is reasonable for Cao Jun to abandon An and withdraw from Hefei.

Thinking of this, Deng Ai immediately ordered an officer: "I will immediately report to General Pang in Wan County that Cao Jun has given up An and withdrew to Hefei!"

Three days later, the [-] cavalry led by Pang De arrived in An County first, while Huang Zhong's army escorted the food and supplies, and slowly came to An. Withdrawing to the east, the Han army occupied An County without bloodshed. A few days later, Huang Zhong led a large army to An County, and the Han army immediately attacked eastward, cutting off the water and land passage between Hefei and Shouchun.

At the entrance of Shishui in the northernmost part of Chaohu Lake, the Han army has built a huge water village here. The water village covers an area of ​​thousands of acres, and more than 10 warships of the Han army are moored. , the perimeter of the camp is nearly [-] miles, enough to accommodate [-] people.

The Shuizhai and the Daying are integrated into one, becoming the logistics center for the Han army to attack Hefei. There are hundreds of huge tents in the camp as warehouses, stacking countless grains, grasses and various military supplies. To the east of the camp, Tens of thousands of Han troops are building a small city with a circumference of eight miles. It is completely modeled after Hefei City, but the circumference has been reduced several times.

There are [-] Han troops pretending to be Cao Jun guarding the city, and the other [-] Han troops will take turns attacking the city day and night for actual siege training. It was the experience brought by this kind of actual combat siege training that enabled the Han army to finally conquer castles and successfully occupy Guanlong. This time, the Han army will also copy the experience of Wudu County to Hefei.

Liu Jing immediately looked at the "Little Hefei City" built not far away on a hill. He smiled and asked Fa Zhengdao: "Does Xiaozhi think this small city is really the same as Hefei City?"

Fazheng is the sole planner of this simulated small city, he quickly bowed and said: "Reporting to Your Highness, I sent more than a dozen craftsmen to participate in the construction of Hefei City half a year ago, and I know the structure of Hefei City like the back of my hand. Regardless of the height, thickness, or moat of the small town, it is exactly the same as Hefei City."

Liu Jing nodded, pointed his horsewhip into the distance, and asked, "How far is it from Hefei City?"

"Report to Your Highness, about 25 miles away."

"It's only 25 miles away. It's easy for Cao Jun's scouts to come here! Then Zhang Liao must have known about our construction of the small Hefei city. How will he deal with it? Has the military commander thought about it?"

"Weichen has considered it, but the large structure of Hefei City has been completed and cannot be moved. We can only improve some details, such as building semi-circular battlements to make it difficult for the siege hook to hold the city wall, and strengthening the iron gate of the water gate. The number and the thickness of the city gates make it difficult for us to break through with battering rams, and there is fire oil, which will be a great weapon for Cao Jun to deal with us."

Fazheng pointed to the moat: "The biggest advantage of Hefei is the moat. The moat is too wide. We have to build floating bridges or use siege ships, but Cao Jun's kerosene is a big threat."

Liu Jing also has rich siege experience. He had an idea about the wide moat of Hefei City many years ago. Liu Jing pondered for a moment and said: "I remember Sun Quan once said to me that the first step in attacking Hefei City is to To divert the water from the moat, since he said so, there must be a basis, can the military division think of a way to try it?"